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Saturday, 13 July 2013

Where bloggers create 2013

This is the first time that I've been officially part of the Where Bloggers create party. I say officially the first time, as although I wrote about my workroom last year I wasn't on the official party list. This year I am, so welcome to the home of Elsie May and Bertha.

A few things have changed since last year. I have an extra table where my hand sewing machine lives, along with some of my (many) craft books and magazines. Plus I'm making good use of the space that tidying up creates to display a few of the bits and pieces I make. The room will not stay this tidy for long!

Supplies, buttons and other bits and pieces are still competing with the books on the shelves (my librarian self has been deeply buried!).

The table in the middle of the room is now used for sewing, cutting fabric etc and so all of my sewing threads, pins, needles, pincushions etc are all on there.

My 'book', I use this for writing the how tos and measurements of things that I've made and pictures for inspiration.

I'm currently putting together inspiration packs to go on my website.

My fabric stash is still increasing (I blame charity shops and all of those people on the internet and facebook who sell lovely fabric for this, it's not my fault at all!) so I've had to rethink its storage. My patterned fabric is now housed on shelves (I can now easily see what I have), my plains are now in one of those canvas hangy-up things, plus some on a shelf. My silk, satin, lace, wool and sheer fabrics are all stored in their own boxes. Plastic boxes aren't the nicest looking things but they are good for storage.

I'm going to use the back of the canvas shelves for display. At the moment, I just have a piece of embroidery that I recently found that I made 30 years ago, it's sitting under a collage that I've done this year. Thirty years seems like an awfully long time!

My wool stash is now stored in the set of drawers that my fabric used to be in, though the big cones are stored on the shelf at the side of the canvas shelves.

Our main computer has now been moved to where my sewing machine, and all my sewing gubbins used to be.

Where the computer used to be is now my paper crafting zone. Everything is all in the one space and I don't have to keep moving stuff when I want to do some sewing.

The opened book is my scrapbook cum journal which I've been lax on adding new pages to it. I have lots of things I can put into it, I just haven't got round to doing it. I will endeavor to do better.

I now have a comfy chair to sit in for sewing etc, though one of our cats, Jack, has probably spent more time on it than I have. Don't take too close a look at the patterned cushion on the chair, it's covered in cat hairs.

I use the walls, door handles and the air walker I can no longer use to hang up various bits and pieces. My vintage wallpapers are in the bag (which was made for me in a swap last year) hanging on the back of the door. Bags and tissue paper are on the air walker. On the beam across the room I've hung up templates, various items I've made, pictures and fabric I've printed on.

I hope you have enjoyed this little tour around my workspace. Pop over to Karen's (our host) blog, My Desert Cottage, to see the list of all of the lovely workspaces that you can visit (they're on the right hand side, you just need to scroll down).

To celebrate the 'Where bloggers create 2013' party I'm offering 15% off everything at www.elsiemayandbertha.co.uk, just input the code Summer2013 at the checkout.

Oh Louise!.. I LOVED seeing your craftroom! Clearly it is your happy place, where the world of creative tools, supplies, and embellishments are at your fingertips!!!... Oh!.. And "gubbins"!!!! That was a brand new word for THIS American! I had to look up the definition, but having found the answer, I rather like the expression! You can never have enough gubbins, right?!!!! (0; Well, that's MY philosophy, anyways!.. Thanks for sharing your creative space! I really enjoyed my stop here today, and please do give Jack and Ollie an extra little hug for me, if you would! (I have a dog and two cats myself!) ~tina

Thanks Tina. I'm glad I've added a new word to your vocabulary. I like gubbins as you can use it for all of those things you've forgotton the name of! I'm glad you enjoyed the look around. I'm busy visiting myself. I intend to visit everyone this year, though it'll take me a bit of time. But I'm meeting lots of lovely people like yourself.Say hi to your cats and dog for me and happy making. ♡□♡

Hi Carmen, I do use my old machine, I prefer it to my electric one. It's a little unwell st the moment though and needs a bit of TCL and WD40 to get it going again. I'm glad you enjoyed the look around my room.♡□♡

I think many of us suffer from that fabric addiction, Louise! I did a clear out of fabric a few weeks ago. My daughter took a good amount of it, so I guess she is on the way to her own fabric hoarding now. : ) Love the idea of your book with pictures and instructions on things you've made. That would make it a lot easier if you go back to make something and can easily see your notes and measurements. You've got a great space and I like how you've organized it.

Your creative space is wonderful and so organized- leave it to a librarian to have a section for everything.

I saw some fun hearts hanging - just made some for myself and plan to make more.

I saw your book of measurements and it gave me an idea. I make book- some for journaling and others full of quotes. When I sell or give away a book, I wish I had a memory of it. I am going to start taking photos of them and putting them in my own journal for reference.

Thank you for your lovely comments. I've now got my myself into the habit of taking photos of everything I make and adding them to am album on Facebook so people can see everything I make and I can remember what I have made!

I have loved looking at the photos of your craft room - what a wonderful space! I don't think I can get rid of a child yet to free up a room but one day...... I started collecting pictures that I found interesting/inspiring from magazines, and scribbled "how to's" on pieces of paper so was thinking that some sort of journal might be in order - yours looks very well organised. I'm left with a big smile on my face, thanks!

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your point of view) I don't have any children so evicting one wasn't a problem. However, considering we've been in this house 23yrs, it took me till last year to set up my workroom!Thanks for the lovely comments :-)

This is the first time I visit your blog. What a beautiful hand sewing machine! I like your idea of keeping a book with pictures and measurements of items you have made. I wish I had the idea before...I can never locate patterns that have been used (and often annotated)and never end up with 2 similar looking objects...a bit annoying when they are supposed to come in pairs!

You look so incredibly well organised. I spent yesterday trying to tidy my work space. I have got in some very bad habits of using to floor as storage, and never putting anything away in case I forget about it.

Thank you so much for your visit to my studio and your sweet comment. It absolutely made my day! :) I spotted a great old sewing machine there, love it! I think it is not so easy to store fabric in an organised way and so I'm glad that I don't work with it, but I admire anyone who can sew. I'm very much looking forward to your future visits though Miss Louise with the many names ;-) Sending you a big hug over from GermanyCarola

That's a lot of fabric, and I love digging through fabric stacks : ) And you have lots of lovely and fun pieces, love the one in yellow and then there is one a bit further down in white with pink details. I have to check out your website/store. Thank you for sharing your space, it was fun to see.

Love, love, love that old sewing machine! Great idea about the notebook to keep track of things you make or see... I need to do something like that! Thank you for the tour of your lovely creative space!

I love all of your fabric--I thought I had a lot but you have me beat!! I love all of your collages. You are talented. Thanks for taking the time to share your creative space. It is wonderful and well organized. Mary

What a great space. Organizing fabric is really difficult, but you've done a great job. I like that you're utilizing your vertical space too. I love your fabric collages. (There's cat hair on my chair too!)Thanks for sharing.Gwen Simmonshttp://aglitchintime.blogspot.com